Chap. 41.] of Pit Coal 271 



the American ferns, corn, grafs, and many other fpe- 

 cies of the vegetable kingdom. They are inclofed in 

 the folid fubftance of the ftone, &c. Thefe vegetable 

 forms, and the ftrata containing them, are the certain 

 indication of coal, not only in Derbyfhire, but in 

 every part of the kingdom which I have vifited ; and 

 I am informed, that the fame phenomenon holds 

 equally true in every other part of the world yet ex- 

 plored.' In general, the ftone which holds foffil plants 

 is either very hard and clofe, or bituminous, fo as to 

 afford no accefs to water. 



The great difficulty in this hypothecs refults from 

 the immenfe quantities of thefe matters which are 

 found in the earth, and this difficulty can only be re- 

 moved by referring to a fact, which is fupported by 

 the traditions of every nation upon earth, the univerfal 

 deluge. 



Among many other curious obfervations, relating 

 to the deluge and its remains, made by Dr. Scheuch- 

 zer and his brother, the Doctor informs us of the 

 trunk of a tree, nine Paris feet in length, with fome 

 part of its branches ftill left upon it, which is lodged 

 upon the fummit of mount Stella, the chief of all the 

 Alps of Switzerland, which, according to the barome- 

 ter, is more than two Englifh ftatute miles perpendi- 

 cular in height, and four thouland feet higher than any 

 trees or vegetables are obferved to grow > he concludes, 

 therefore, that it was left there by the fubfidence of 

 the waters of the deluge. Another modern writer 

 alfo very properly remarks, c When we find on any 

 ftones an exact refemblance of a plant, a leaf, or fome 

 fruit, that we are acquainted with, if thefe leaves are 

 bent or folded, if they crofs each other, or lie one upon 

 another, they are certain indications that the plant or 

 fruit fo reprefented is an imprefiion made by a natural 



body.' 



